No.
10, 28 March 2003
HEADLINES IN THIS ISSUE
1. Hydrogen in tomorrow's energy systems. Experts
survey the prospects.
2. CO2 Sequestration: IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme
launches new website.
3. Energy Star: optimising benefits from an energy-efficiency
programme.
4. Saving energy by storing it: IEA international
collaborative R&D programme reviews progress.
5.
Upcoming Events
- IEA
Conference Linking Basic Science and the Development of New Energy
Technologies, Paris, 1-2 April 2003.
- Thermal
Energy Storage Workshop, organised by IEA Energy Storage
Implementing Agreement - Lleida (Spain), 10 April, 2003.
- Biomass
Co-Firing Workshop - Jacksonville, Florida (USA), 17 May
2003.
- The
Hydrogen Economy: Challenges and Strategies for Australia, Including
the Tidal Energy Link - international conference, Broome,
Western Australia 18-21 May 2003.
- Energy
Technologies for post-Kyoto Targets in the Medium Term,
Risø International Energy Conference - Risø (Denmark), 19-21 May
2003.
- Photovoltaic
Power Systems in the Past, Present and Future - IEA PVPS
International Conference 2003 - 10th Anniversary of PVPS - Osaka
(Japan), 19-20 May 2003.
- Towards
Sustainable Transportation - 20th Anniversary Windsor
Workshop - Toronto, Ontario (Canada), 2-5 June 2003.
- Saving
Electricity in a Hurry - IEA Workshop, Paris (France),
19-20 June 2003.
- Coal
- contributing to sustainable world development - 12th
International Conference on Coal Science - Cairns, Queensland
(Australia), 2- 6 November, 2003.
6.
Publications and websites:
South
American Gas -- Getting Hybrid, Electric and
Alternative Fuel Vehicles onto the Roads -- Demand
Response in Liberalised Electricity Markets -- Bioprocesses,
Bioproducts and the BioBased Economy -- Integrating
Solar Heating and Cooling.
NEWS IN BRIEF
1. Hydrogen in tomorrow's energy systems. A much discussed
potential option, to exist in parallel with electricity, hydrogen
as an energy
carrier could play a big role in future energy systems. In direct
combustion, or as a feedstock for stationary or mobile fuel cells
producing electricity and heat, hydrogen appears to have what it
takes to bring us closer to economic, energy-security and climate
goals. Not surprisingly, hydrogen technology is now attracting
substantial
research and development investment budgets around the world. But
can we really expect to see a hydrogen economy starting to emerge
in the near future? How could a transition of such vast magnitude
be master-minded? What are the energy-policy, technology and infrastructure
priorities for smoothing the way? To get insight on these questions,
the IEA invited international experts to a seminar in Paris on
3
March 2003. To access the papers from this event: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/work/workshopdetail.asp?WS_ID=98.
Hydrogen
was on the agenda when United States Secretary of Energy Spencer
Abraham and IEA Executive Director Claude Mandil met on 6th March
in Brussels. Press release: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/press/pressdetail.asp?PRESS_REL_ID=88.
See
also the programme of the IEA Implementing Agreement on Hydrogen: http://www.ieahia.org/.
It is among more than forty operating within the Agency's framework
for international energy technology collaboration. See http://www.iea.org/Textbase/techno/index.asp.
2. CO2
Sequestration: IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme launches new website. Capturing and storing CO2 from fossil fuels used during power generation
or in industrial processes is becoming increasingly high-profile.
For more than ten years now, the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme
has been focussing on the potential of CO2 sequestration to achieve
substantial reductions in emissions of this greenhouse gas. It has
a well established website which answers basic questions about the
technology. A new site has now been created that gives access to a
searchable database of more than eighty practical research and demonstration
projects around the world. Informed readers are invited to offer comments
on this new website, at http://www.co2sequestration.info,
or to submit additional material.
For the Programme's main web pages: http://www.ieagreen.org.uk/.
3. Energy Star: optimising benefits from an energy-efficiency programme.
By any standards, the achievements of the United States Energy Star
programme constitute a major success story. Energy Star energy-efficiency
labels can now be seen on the widest range of appliances, alongside
its energy-efficiency ratings for buildings, homes and business
premises.
Partnerships with local institutions have made the Energy Star label
a valued benchmark in markets around the globe. As with most success
stories, however, Energy Star faces the challenge of sustaining performance
and preserving momentum. Against a backdrop of transforming markets,
how can the efficiency of Energy Star itself be further enhanced
to cater for broader product scope and outreach? Bringing the perspective
of long-standing involvement in the work of this and other similar
programmes, Alan Meier of the IEA's Energy Efficiency Policy Analysis
team analyses the challenge and suggests ways forward. To access
his report, The Future of Energy Star and Other Voluntary Energy
Efficiency Programmes: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/publications/free_new_Desc.asp?PUBS_ID=921.
4. Saving energy by storing it: IEA international collaborative R&D
programme reviews progress. From underground thermal storage to
keeping lap-top computers cool, the IEA's Implementing Agreement on
Energy Conservation through Energy Storage addresses diverse ways
of making better use of fluctuating energy sources. Its projects demonstrate
how exchanging knowledge between countries can speed acceptance of
new technologies and market introduction. In less than seven years,
for example, six cold and heat storage plants have been realized in
Belgium, and more are now under construction. Meanwhile, equipment
and procedures have been developed for Thermal Response Testing (TRT),
a tool for design of underground borehole heat exchangers now popular
for designing large-scale plants in at least ten countries. A lap-top
cooler has been created that reduces energy consumption by 25%. And,
based on technical work under the programme's international collaboration,
Canada has adopted a national standard that is expected to encourage
use of underground thermal energy storage for earth energy systems.
For more, see the Progamme's website: http://www.iea-eces.org.
Contact: Andreas.Hauer@muc.zae-bayern.de.
5. Upcoming Events
- Please
note that the following event will now take place in Paris and
not Moscow.
IEA Conference Linking Basic Science and the Development of
New Energy Technologies, Paris, 1-2 April 2003. Hosted by
the IEA, this event will focus on the relationship between basic
science and the development of clean energy technologies. It
will
explore how energy technology research programmes can better
reflect progress in basic science in the pursuit of a sustainable
energy
future. See announcement: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/work/workshopdetail.asp?WS_ID=95.
Invitations to this invitation-only event can be requested by
e-mailing: difiglio@iea.org,
or mitsuhide.hoshino@iea.org.
- Thermal
Energy Storage Workshop, Lleida (Spain), 10 April, 2003. Organised
by the Annex "Cooling in All Climates with Thermal Energy Storage"
of IEA's Energy Storage Implementing Agreement, this 6th workshop
in the series will focus on Mediterranean countries, design, modelling
and implementation issues. The IEA programme organises workshops
in parallel with Experts' Meetings. Last October's 5th workshop
in the United States attracted 70 American attendees. For more
information and registration: http://cevre.cu.edu.tr/annex14/ (Click on News, then Upcoming Events). Contact: Bekir Turgut - annex14@mail.cu.edu.tr.
- Biomass Co-Firing Workshop, Jacksonville, Florida (USA),
17 May 2003. Submission of papers is invited for this workshop,
organised by the IEA Fluidized Bed Conversion (FBC) Implementing
Agreement in conjunction with its 46th meeting. Both events
coincide
with the May 18-21 International Conference on Fluidized Bed
Combustion sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
and
Council of Industrial Boiler Owners.
- The
Hydrogen Economy: Challenges and Strategies for Australia, Including
the Tidal Energy Link - international conference, Broome,
Western Australia, 18-21 May 2003. Organised with advisory support
from the IEA's Implementing Agreement on Hydrogen, this international
event is for decision-takers with a strategic interest in the
role of hydrogen as a long-term future energy source. Speakers
will include major contributors, from different countries, to
advances in hydrogen use for energy, as well as Australian Government
Ministers. For conference website and registration details: http://www.hartleymgt.com.au/hydrogenbroome/.
- Energy
Technologies for post-Kyoto Targets in the Medium Term, Risø
International Energy Conference, Risø (Denmark), 19-21 May 2003.
Co-sponsored by the IEA, this conference will review new developments
and trends in energy technologies that could become main elements
in the energy portfolio over the next fifteen to twenty years.
Both R&D and system-integration issues are on the agenda. http://www.risoe.dk/konferencer/energyconf/presentations.htm.
- Photovoltaic
Power Systems in the Past, Present and Future - IEA
PVPS International Conference 2003 - 10th Anniversary of
PVPS - Osaka (Japan), 19-20
May 2003. As well as reviewing the IEA PVPS programme's achievements
over the past ten years, this event will focus on the programme's
future missions, the role of policy measures in relation to photovoltaics
around the world, also some visions of the future for PV
industries.
For the conference announcement and access to the PVPS website: http://www.iea-pvps.org/.
For direct access to the Conference pages: http://www.iea-pvps.org/products/index.htm.
- Towards
Sustainable Transportation - 20th Anniversary Windsor Workshop
- Toronto, Ontario (Canada), 2-5 June 2003. Co-sponsored by the
IEA, this event will enable international experts from the public
and private sectors to compare experience, share information and
consider future developments in all aspects of transport: research,
policy, fuel supply and vehicle manufacturing. Conference website: http://www.windsorworkshop.ca/.
- Saving
Electricity in a Hurry - IEA Workshop, Paris (France), 19-20
June 2003. What are the best strategies for dealing effectively
with temporary shortfalls in electricity supply? Each electricity
crisis has unique features, but the lessons learned can benefit
others. This international workshop will enable specialists to
share recent practical experience in addressing the need for
fast
reductions in power demand. To learn more and register: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/work/workshopdetail.asp?id=100
- Coal
- Contributing to Sustainable World Development - 12th International
Conference on Coal Science, Cairns, Queensland (Australia), 2-
6 November, 2003. Organised jointly by the IEA, the IEA Clean
Coal Centre and the hosts, the Australian Institute of Energy,
this event will offer a broad technical program of plenary lectures
and oral and poster presentations on advances in coal science.
Also on the agenda are tours of major export, mining, and research
facilities in Queensland and Southern Australia. For more information: http://www.aie.org.au/iccs/.
6. Publications & websites
- South
American Gas - Daring to Tap the Bounty. This IEA study reviews
current trends in South American's gas sector and identifies the
challenges ahead if the region is to take full advantage of its
gas resources. To learn more and order:
http://www.iea.org/bookshop/add.aspx?id=61
- Deployment
Strategies for Hybrid, Electric and Alternative Fuel Vehicles. The fruit of three years of work by a joint task force from the
IEA's collaborative programmes on hybrid and electric vehicles
and on advanced motor fuels, this report makes recommendations
to inform policy-making. Its findings are based on analysis
of
more than 100 deployment programmes in 18 countries. To access
the flyer for this free publication and order: http://www.iea.org/impagr/cip/hybrid.pdf.
Website of IEA Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Implementing Agreement: http://www.ieahev.org/.
Website of IEA Advanced Motor Fuels Implementing Agreement:
http://www.iea-amf.vtt.fi/.
- Proceedings
of the IEA Workshop Demand Response in Liberalised Electricity
Markets, Paris, 24-25 February 2003. This workshop focused
on how market forces, policy and technology can work together
to ensure that power consumers have the means to use electricity
efficiently. To access the proceedings: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/work/2003/elecmrkt/index.htm.
- Proceedings
of Joint IEA/OECD Workshop Promoting International Collaboration
on Bioprocesses, Bioproducts and the BioBased Economy (BBE) - Ottawa (Canada), March 3-6, 2003. See website for workshop speakers' views on the role of international collaboration
in relation to bioprocesses and bioproducts, today and tomorrow.
- Solar
Heating and Cooling: Tools for Using An Integrated Design Process.
The IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme's Task 23, "Optimisation
of Solar Energy Use in Large Buildings" recently completed its
work on exploring the nature of the Integrated Design Process
(IDP). This approach and design procedure has proved to be most
effective in producing high-performance and environmentally-friendly
buildings. A set of tools has been developed and can be downloaded,
along with other related material, from the Programme's website
at http://www.iea-shc.org/task23.
Contact: Pamela Murphy - pmurphy@morseassociatesinc.com.
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